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Otto Self-Driving Truck Kits

Otto is determined to make kits to transform regular trucks into self-driving trucks.


(Otto self-driving trucks)

One of the problems that are seldom addressed by autonomous car dreamers (like me!) is that the American "fleet" of vehicles takes more than a decade to turn over. So, it makes a lot of sense to sell kits to bring the future closer for more companies.

In his 1956 story The Corkscrew of Space, sf legend Poul Anderson described self-driving trucks called electrotrucks:

As he watched, [the spacecraft] entered its cradle and was wheeled off toward the waiting electrotrucks. Unloading began immediately; the trucks gulped packages and scurried like beetles toward the warehouses.

Also, as far as earlier mentions of the idea that Otto is trying to bring to the market is concerned, I should mention Stephen King's short story Trucks, which described a rebellion by autonomous trucks (brief movie clip below).


(Stephen King's 'Trucks' 1997)

Via The Verge.

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